The Lion King
 

The Lion King is getting adapted in a live-action form in the same vein as the live-action Jungle Book with Jon Favreau directing.

Voiceover Cast:
Donald Glover as Simba
James Earl Jones as Mufasa
Seth Rogen as Puumba
Billy Eichner as Timon
John Oliver as Zazu
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar
Alfre Woodard as Sarabi

The film is coming in 2019.

Against my better judgement... I'm kind of interested in this.

Jungle Book was good. Not groundbreaking beyond visual effects but it's pretty enjoyable.

Some of the voice casting (Olivier and Ejiofor) is cool, some is pretty meh (Rogen and Eichner? Key and Peele weren't available?).

Re: The Lion King
 

They just announced John Kani, who plays Black Panther's father in Captain America: Civil War, is going to voice Rafiki.

Re: The Lion King
 

So he is.

Beyonce is in talks for Nala.

Confirmed.

Re: The Lion King
 

James Earl Jones is Mufasa again? Interesting.

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He sounded... odd in Rogue One. That’s age for ya. I guess Fishburne was busy?

Re: The Lion King
 

I think because Mufasa’s voice is so iconic, you can’t really recast that. The Jungle Book worked because there was enough of a gap between that and the original and it grought something different (wasn’t a fan of the singing though). However The Lion King feels too recent and the original is so good that I don’t see the point of a remake apart from an obvious attempt to cash in on the film’s success, wow us with a bit of CGI and flog some merchandise. If any of the Disney Renaissance films would actually work as a live action remake, it would surely be Mulan, seeing as that actually featured humans in the main. Aladdin would be inadvisable as I think it would just look panto and would stir up controversy for being culturally insensitive, The Little Mermaid would probably be fine if a bit bland, I can’t see Hercules working as it’s too cartoonish. Pocahontas would probably stir up some sort of controversy- has Tarzan already had a live action remake? The Hunchback of Notre Dame would be an interesting one to do- sure it deviates a lot from the novel but it would be visually quite interesting and would get adults interested.

Re: The Lion King
 

I agree with Mufasa's voice being so iconic that you can't recast it, which is why I'm very happy he's returning for the live adaptation. I would have also loved to have seen Jermemy Irons return as Scar though... also very iconic and I can't imagine anyone else portraying Scar via vocals. Mr Irons has a very distinct sound to his voice and it helped bring life to an iconic villian. I'm sure Chiwetel will do a fine job but being such a massive fan of the original animated movie, I really wanted Irons back.

But yeah... really excited for this movie! Loved what Jon Favreau did with Jungle book and got faith he will handle The Lion King with care... he better! :yup:

There's a thing on an episode of Nostalgia Critic where it points out that Jeremy Irons singing voice turns into Jim Cummings near the end of Be Prepared. Apparently Irons had a sore throat so Jim finished it.

I notice it every time now.

Re: The Lion King
 

Well, it is should be interesting to see this version. Donald Glover is ok but...I dont know what to say...probably I would like to hear another actor=))

Re: The Lion King
 

That's a whole lot of CGI to be calling it live action. Not that I have any intention of seeing it anyway since I don't like the original.

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

IT'S JUST A SHOT-BY-SHOT REMAKE WITH CGI!!!! WHAT'S THE PURPOSE?!?! WHY WOULD PEOPLE PAY THEIR HARD-EARNED TO SEE THIS?!?! WHAT WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN?!?!
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...19/002/c6f.png

It's a payday for Disney. Simple.


Going by what happened with the recent live-action remake of Dumbo... Disney can remake all of their old animations using live-action and CGI... and they don't have to pay a single dime to the original writers, producers, or even to the original musicians.

Re: The Lion King
 

I want this!
"It's a shot-by-shot remake with CGI"? Great!
Couldn't see the original in the big screen, now I can.
Long live The Lion King, one of the best animation of all time and my very first film passion.
Can't wait.

Re: The Lion King
 

I really like the original. Perfect the way it is. Ok they are remaking it in cgi...get rid of the songs. I appreciate it may sound strange as I said originals perfect but musicals....a remake of a musical😒

are u serious :eek: :| :tsk: :modest:, the original is one of the best disney classic movie

Yes.

No.

Re: The Lion King
 

I have mixed feelings about all these live action remakes. On one hand, there's the obvious "why?" of it, the money-grasping cynicism. On the other hand, nobody's stopping anyone from watching the originals and simply ignoring these, and it's obviously better and adds more than a "straight" remake. They're also really pretty, now that the CGI has gotten as good as it has. The Jungle Book was pretty good, I thought, and I don't recall there being as much backlash against that as there is against this, or Aladdin trailer, or even Beauty and the Beast. Maybe because those are all newer and a lot of people posting comments grew up with those?

Anyway, I don't love it, but I don't hate it. I look forward to just renting it eventually and admiring how polished it looks, I guess. I don't think it's great, but it's not terrible, either. Retelling stories is inherent to the nature of stories.

I dont mind a remake so much if there are different view points, new scenes, songs, etc.. but a shot by shot remake sounds quite boring tbh.

Otoh my 9 year old is excited about it and keeps rewatching the trailer

Re: The Lion King
 

Sourpusses.

I look forward to all that CGI being injected into my eyeballs.

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Well, it sure looks gorgeous, if nothing else.

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Scar looks cool.

Re: The Lion King
 

More excited for this than Aladdin.

Re: The Lion King
 

Yeah, it's funny how people are less mad about this than Aladdin. I'm trying to figure out why that is. And also whether people will treat the inevitable The Little Mermaid live action remake like this one or the other one.

Re: The Lion King
 

No people?
No Will Smith?

No interest in Aladdin, and borderline on The Lion King, but that's how it's always been with me. I might see The Little Mermaid! I had a crush on Ariel. I mean, when I was a kid of course.

Re: The Lion King
 

You have to wonder if Disney is playing a long con by having Dumbo and Aladdin look so ill-advised in their creative choices that Lion King ends up looking far superior in comparison despite doing nothing more ambitious than a shot-for-shot remake.

And also not paying any of the writers or paying out any royalties of any kind to anyone.

Re: The Lion King
 

It looks like a movie I've seen before. Guess I'll see it again.

Re: The Lion King
 

I'm actually not thrilled with Scar. The original had him look so much darker in contrast to the other lions, and now he looks relatively normal at first glance

Re: The Lion King
 

This is dumb, right?

https://twitter.com/RottenTomatoes/s...32464174735360

Re: The Lion King
 

https://twitter.com/cartoonbrew/stat...08647676522497What this clips is showing me is that the live action stuff can look great when the singing is being done by humans, but trying to make the animals sing and look like real animals is kinda nuts and feels all off.

Re: The Lion King
 

I think this is turning into looking like a bomb, much like The Jungle Book remake.

Aladdin remake at least had some substance to it. I'm sure Dumbo may have too.

Re: The Lion King
 

https://twitter.com/SamuelAAdams/sta...45664921411585

I think there might be a big, glowing line here based on animals and people, personally. People singing actually looks more real than cartoon people signing, of course, but the same isn't true of animals.

@Yoda you're right. I just watched the singing clip you shared and the "live-action CGI" made me cringe...

Now I'm getting "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" vibes from this re-make, which is bad, because I disliked the second one and didn't bother checking out the third.

when there no fresh ideas - just refilm old movies, that's how it works ;)

Re: The Lion King
 

This looks...better than I'd have thought:

https://twitter.com/danjensenmovies/...29372436537344

Re: The Lion King
 

It looks worse than what I expected. It's failing where Alita Battle Angel (kind of) succeeded. Cats looks better. And on the subject of felines, if Cats & Dogs has better expressions, so can TLK.


The Scar one's pretty tight, though.